Oslo — Norway’s state-run development fund, Norfund, is finding the fattest returns in Africa are in the financial industry. The $2bn fund, which is, more and more concentrating its investments in sub-Saharan Africa, placed more than half its new capital last year in financial institutions. That focus helped salvage returns last year. At the end of 2016, the fund had invested 16.8-billion krone ($2bn) in 124 companies, with renewable energy infrastructure investments the largest component. Financial institutions yielded 7.3% last year, while the fund saw an annual return of 2.9%. "The financial sector has been the most profitable and has remained the best, even through difficult periods," Kjell Roland, CEO at Norfund, said in an interview last week. The fund is becoming a growing power as annual contributions from the government are set to increase by 50% over the next four years. The capital and the returns are being ploughed into the least developed countries in an effort to promo...
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